A Stunning Realization
by Mardia
Summary: The first journal entry from Michael. Written when he realizes his feelings for Mia. UPDATED!
1. Default Chapter

Title: A Stunning Realization

Genre: Humor/Romance

Characters: Michael POV

Rating: PG-trust me, if you've read the books, you'll be fine with this

Summary: Michael's first journal entry. Written when he starts to realize his feelings for Mia.

Author's note: It's good to be back. That said, enjoy seeing Michael squirm. (Thanks to the reviewer who noticed the mistake.)

1:35 AM

I have never felt the need to write things down in a journal. I'm a pretty private person, and up until now, my life has made sense. Well, sort of. 

My fourteen-year-old sister's a raving psychopath, but even though my parents are psychoanalysts and are PAID to figure out if a person's crazy, they insist that Lilly-my sister-is perfectly normal. More on that later. 

My name is Michael Moscovitz, I'm 17, have a dog, am obsessed with Buffy and computers, and have dreams of getting into Columbia. That said, let's get to the _real_ reason I'm writing this. 

Okay. Here goes. 

WHAT in the name of God, seraphim, cherubim, archangels, saints, cloud-fluffers and beard-trimmers is MIA THERMOPOLIS doing in the middle of a perfectly good Buffy fantasy?

I mean, she had NO right to be there. And for the life of me, I cannot figure out why in the dream, I was kissing her. 

My God. I'm having dreams about _kissing_ Mia Thermopolis. 

Not to say the girl looks like the Loch Ness Monster or has breath the smell of a toxic waste dump. She doesn't. In fact, she's kind of cute, in a quirky, innocent, girl-next-door kind of way. 

I cannot believe I actually just said that. Sure, the girl's gorgeous but-

Okay. Rewind.

Since when did 'cute' go to 'gorgeous'?

Oy. Maybe I ate some bad Chinese takeout or something.

4:30 in the afternoon….

This is not good. Not good at all. 

What is the MATTER with me?

There is something seriously wrong with me. There has to be. I mean, you just don't feel this way about someone who's three years younger than you and your psychotic sister's best friend. Not unless there is something seriously wrong with you. You just don't. 

Maybe I should schedule a therapy session with my parents. 

Anyway, I was sitting in the living room, watching TV, Pavlov-my dog- sitting on the floor nearby. I was content with the idea that bad takeout had caused that bizarre dream. (I was at that point, ignoring the fact that no one else had suffered any strange symptoms. Let's just say I like having my head stuck in the ground like an ostrich.)

Then Mia showed up. 

She said hello to Maya-our housekeeper-then turned to me. 

"Hi, Michael. Is Lilly home?"

See, at this point I was doing a pretty good job of ignoring the flip-flops my stomach was performing. 

"She's in her room," I managed to state with relative normalcy. "Probably plotting world domination-I'm thinking of calling the UN."

Mia grinned at me. "Thanks." Then she walked towards Lilly's room, where I really do believe my sister is hatching a nefarious plot for global domination.

Pretty normal, right?

Yeah, except for the fact that my hands started sweating the minute she smiled at me and I immediately started wondering if I have been suffering from some sort of selective blindness all these years not to notice that incredible smile. 

DON'T suggest that I'm falling for Mia Thermopolis. 

I _cannot_ fall for Mia Thermopolis. As Willow said when finding out about Xander and Cordelia, "It goes against all the laws of God and man!" There HAS to be some sort of commandment against it. There just has to be. You know, like 'thou shalt not commit adultery', 'thou shalt not commit murder', 'thou shalt not ever, in a freaking MILLENIA, fall for your little sister's best friend!"

Something like that. 

I'm not falling for Mia Thermopolis. I don't care that she has an adorable smile and this really cute way of biting her lower lip when she's nervous. I don't care that she has the most amazing smoky gray eyes I've ever seen in my life.

Well, that didn't help at all. 

I don't care about Mia Thermopolis. Well, except in a brotherly, you're-my-sister's-friend-so-I-have-to-care-about-you kind of way.

About thirty minutes later…

I think I lied earlier.

I took a quick little nap about fifteen minutes ago. And had another dream. 

Okay, do you remember this song called Butterfly by this group called Crazytown? I hated the song but it was all over the radio a while back. Anyway, the theme of this video is this bizarre meadow filled with hot chicks and butterflies in this meadow. Ugh. (To the butterflies and meadow part, not the hot chicks.)

Anyway, in the video, the lead singer and this girl share this hot kiss at the end. 

Now, replace the hot chick with Mia and the lead singer with the spike on his chin for me and you've got my dream. 

Oh dear God.

I think I've fallen for Mia Thermopolis. 

20 minutes later…

Still in shock. Reality as I have known it just stood on his head and started singing, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star."

Lilly would kill me if she found out. Hell, mere death would be a blessing compared to what my sister would do to me if she found out the truth! Does the word 'disembowelment' mean anything?

Oh, I'm a dead man. 

But…it's strange. It's like…the feelings I have for Mia aren't _new_, exactly…like I've had them for a while, but it just took me a long time to figure them out…

Oy. _This_ is what comes out of have psychoanalysts for parents.

So, here's the recap on the past twenty-four hours. Mia Thermopolis has invaded my dreams, I have come to the stunning realization that I'm in love with my little sister's best friend, am in danger of being disemboweled-is that even a word?-and my dog's drooling on my pillow. 

Fantastic life I've got, huh?


	2. A Nasty Shock

A/N: I really wasn't planning on writing another chapter to this, but my muse-who is refusing to let me finish Withdrawal-handed me this little plot bunny. Basically, here's the thing. Since both of Michael's parents are psychoanalysts and therefore _have_ to be perceptive, I didn't think it was that crazy of an idea to assume that they had figured out that Michael had a major thing for Mia. Then this idea occurred to me: What if only _one _of them picked up on it and the other one was blissfully clueless?

POV: Michael and Lilly's father

Disclaimer: See first chapter.

Fact of the day: I am a blind idiot.

I was sipping some coffee and listening to Kate-my wife- and Maya-our housekeeper- chat as Maya chopped up some vegetables for a salad. Michael was in his room and Lily had some friends of hers inside her room. 

"So how long do you give them?" Kate asked Maya.

Maya paused, considering. "Five to six months, tops," she declared.

"Five to six months for what?" I asked curiously, relaxing in my chair. 

"Five to six months for Michael and Mia to start going out," Kate replied calmly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

I choked on my coffee. "_Excuse_ me?"

Kate and Maya both smiled tolerantly at each other. "Told you he didn't know," Maya said to Kate.

"Michael…and-and _Mia_?" I echoed. "No. Absolutely not."

I suppose I should explain. Mia is Lilly's best friend and we've known her and her mother since she was 6. (Mia, not her mother.) Neither Michael nor Mia has shown anything but amused tolerance for each other over the years. (Well, except for the period where they disagreed over which one was the bigger 'doo-doo head'.)

"Kate, I know what I am talking about," I said firmly. "I analyze people for a living and if my son had a crush on his little sister's best friend, I think I'd pick up on it."

"But, dear," Kate said gently, " I _also_ analyze people for a living, and I know what _I_ am talking about. And yes, our son does have a crush on his little sister's best friend, and no, you didn't pick up on it."

Maya was watching us with an amused look on her face. 

"This is better than _All My Children_," she commented.

I was getting a little annoyed by their smug, know-it-all attitudes. "Look, if somehow you can _prove_ to me that Michael is indeed interested in Mia, I'll pay each of you fifty bucks."

Kate and Maya looked at each other. "Think we should take him up on it?" Maya asked, her eyes gleaming.

"Why not?" Kate shrugged. "It's his loss."

"Ohh, you wish," I told them, leaning back in my chair.

Then Lilly burst out of her room.

"MICHAEL!" she hollered, banging on Michael's door. "GIVE-IT-BACK!"

"Give what back?" Michael yelled back at her through the closed door. 

"MY TAPES, YOU IDIOT!"

"Lilly, stop yelling," I ordered automatically. "Michael, if you have Lilly's tapes, give them back to her." I wasn't alarmed. This is a normal occurrence in our household.

"I haven't got her damn tapes!" Michael yelled back.

Lilly's friends came out of her room. 

"Hello," Shameeka Taylor said at us politely, then turned to Lilly. "Lilly, did you check your backpack?"

"Of course I did," Lilly snapped. "I'm telling you, that thief in there-" she pointed towards Michael's room, "-has them, and he's not going to give them back."

Ling Su, another one of Lilly's friends, sighed, "Lilly, maybe you should try asking _politely_."

Lilly snorted at that. "Please. Manners are wasted on that pig."

"Okay, that's just rude," Michael called out through his door. "Not to mention the fact that it's not kosher."

I smiled in spite of myself.

Mia came out of Lilly's room. "I've looked everywhere I can think of. It's definitely not in your room."

"My brother the kleptomaniac has them and he won't give them back," Lilly snarled. "And nobody's going to be able to convince him to give them back-"

Then all three of them turned towards Mia with very strange looks on their faces.

Mia grew nervous, and I couldn't blame her. "What?"

"_You_ could talk to Michael," Shameeka suggested slyly.

Mia's gray eyes grew very wide. "Me? Oh, no. No, no, no. No way."

"Come on, Mia, you know you're the only one Michael'll listen to sometimes. And I really wanna see those movies-" Ling Su whined.

"Mia, please?" Lilly begged. "You _know_ how much I hate begging-"

Mia sighed. "Fine," she growled. "I'll go and talk to him." She waved at them. "Go back inside. This'll work better if you're not here."

Taking a deep breath, she tapped on the door. "Michael? It's me, Mia."

There was a pause. "What do you want, Thermopolis?" Michael never refers to Mia by her first name. Further proof that my wife and housekeeper are clearly delusional.

"Michael, we want those tapes."

"Don't have them," Michael said carelessly. 

Mia sighed. "Come _on_, Michael. Please? I really want to see _Return of the Jedi_ and we both know you've got it in your room. Along with the other two _Star Wars_ movies."

There was no reply.

"Please, Michael?" Mia asked. "Okay, I'm begging here, and you know I hate begging, so come on, just open the stupid door and-"

The door opened and Michael stood there. In his hands were the three tapes. "Here," he muttered and handed them to Mia.

Mia grinned up at him. "Thanks."

Michael snorted. "You know, they were just lying there on the couch. I would've given them back, but Lilly was pissing me off with all that yelling and banging."

"Well, you gave them back. That's all that matters," Mia replied, and smiled at him again. "Thanks again, Michael." And then she went into Lilly's room, and shut the door.

However, we could still hear Lilly's voice going, "You've _got_ them. _God_, Mia, I _swear_ you're the only one Michael will listen to-"

Michael stared at Lilly's doorway, shook his head, and muttered something like, "Damn, I wish it _had _been the Chinese takeout-"

Then he shut the door and went back to whatever it is he does in there.

I just stared at the closed door, unable to believe my eyes.

Kate and Maya started laughing. 

"If you could see the look on your face-" Kate gasped. 

"I-wha-that was just-that-" I stammered 

Kate said patiently, "That was your son giving in." 

I stared at Kate. "Did you just h_ear_ the sentence that came out of your mouth? Michael? _Giving in_? What you just said defies all the laws of logic!"

Maya grinned. "Personally, I think you're just stalling so you won't have to cough up the money."

Kate smiled sweetly at me. "Honey…fork it over." She held out her hand, as did Maya. Sighing, I took out my wallet and handed them the money.

Suddenly, I heard a cough. We turned to see Michael staring at us. 

Michael held up a hand. "I don't want to know about this, do I?" he asked.

I shook my head. "No, you don't."

"Didn't think so," Michael agreed. He went over to the refrigerator and pulled out a Coke. "So-I'm just gonna take this and leave."

Kate nodded. "Smart move."

"Right," Michael muttered and went back into his room. 

I turned back to Kate and Maya. "Is there a lesson to be learned from all this?" I asked. "Because I just don't see it."

Kate and Maya looked at each other, then Kate answered. "Two lessons. One: Never bet us at anything, because you'll lose, and two: Just because you don't see something doesn't mean it's there."

I nodded and sighed. "You know, you could have told me that a hundred bucks ago."

Kate and Maya grinned. "We could, but…where would the fun be in that?" Maya asked, her dark eyes twinkling.

"Ha, ha," I said sarcastically. "So, you think Mia knows?"

"Nope," Kate said calmly. "Not a clue."

I looked at her. "Well, shouldn't we interfere? I mean, Michael is our son-"

"Oh, no," Maya said seriously. "In this case, I think it is best to use the hands-off method."

I shrugged. "All right, all right."

So, there we are.

Oh, and if I _ever _think about making another bet with those two hustlers over there, please, just shoot me first.


End file.
